it's not just old me. it was my daughter. what happened? >> defending the irs. >> okay. >> go back to mika, it's not always safe to have good seats atten an award show. i don't know who miguel is -- >> it's horrible. oh, he crushed a lady! dude, look at her. you can't do that. >> she was okay. it looked like wrestling. >> holy cow. dude, that was a rough show last night. here's chuck todd, he's got "daily rundown" and will not leap across the studio. damage control. president obama's team tries to tamp down the outcry over the irs and other outrage sending a top adviser to the sunday shows to face down a revved up

republican response. the trouble for the white house echoed across the potomac this weekend in virginia as republicans produced a surprise pick to run with their nominee for governor. some are calling it a tea party ticket. and a deep dive this morning into the final hours of the race for the second largest city in the country. l.a. mayor will a famous last name hold on to what has been a steady lead or the second largest city put a woman in charge for the first time. good morning from washington for this monday, may 20th, 2013 edition of "daily rundown." one week from today memorial day weekend and start of summer. triple threat of controversies threatening to further erode the america's confidence in government and the white house is aggressively trying to hit back at republican critics. on sunday, white house senior adviser dan pfeiffer defended the president going on all five

sunday talk shows calling accusations of mismanagement offensive and absurd. >> we've seen this playbook from the republicans before. what they want to do when they're lacking a positive agenda try to drag washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expedition and trumped up hearings and false allegations. we're not going to let that happen. >> republican lawmakers decided to zero in on the irs scanding and symptomatic. echoed across all of the morning shows. >> there is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration. the irs is just the most recent example. >> it's an unfortunate culture, i think, in the administration that it's okay to cover these things up and part of it has to dowith the intimidation that the administration is using. i have a very hard time believing that this is something cooked up in cincinnati from

mi mid-level employees at the irs. >> lower level employees here in cincinnati, ohio, took this on themselves. >> not just some individuals in the low level at the irs. they don't make those kind of decisions. >> a person from that cincinnati office said, we don't do anything without direction here. >> here's what we do know. the white house was informed, of course, we learned this last week that the white house has counsel, the chief lawyer was told of this audit by -- of the irs by treasury on april 22 pd. now, what we don't know. she was told it was told that it was going to show agency employees were inappropriately targeting conserve groups. and they lacked evident that the targeting of conservatives was ordered by the white house, they still were out there suggesting the full facts aren't known calling the treasury department report just the beginning of the digging they intend to do. >> well, an audit is a

measurement of behavior and what actually occurred, but an investigation they didn't look at e-mails and didn't look at intents and they didn't look at who was in the chain of information. >> there was an audit done by the inspector general, but we have not had an investigation yet. >> the ieg report was an a audit, not an investigation. this is just the beginning of this process. >> several republicans said the 30-day top down review plan for the new act aing irs commissioner is insufficient. he demanded an independent counsel investigate the irs. democrats unable to defend the agency pushed back on the idea of that. >> i don't see it at this point and, look, you know, even the chairman of the house oversight committee said you don't start accusing the irs until you have an independent deep dive and that, that deep dive is what the inspector general did. >> remember there is also now a justice department criminal investigation that was opened. that happened last week, too. i'm sure somebody will report that as breaking news later today for what it's worth, but that's been ordered before.

so, the question is, special counsel. do you wait and see how that justice department investigation goes, if they find criminal wrongdoing then the calls for special counsel will become bipartisan on that front. but a larger problem going on here for the white house. by acknowledging that what happened at the irs quasi"outra and inexcusable" that leaves one option. the government is just not being run very well. and a fund-raiser for senate democrats on sunday in atlanta. the president trying to deflect the criticism. politics in washington is the reason things aren't getting done. >> we've got good common sense solutions that we can implement right now. the bad news is that there's a shortage of common sense in washington. >> that's a hit on the elected folks. but the visible break down of effective government is happening on the president's watch. the running excuse from the white house is that the irs is not a scandal. it's just bureaucrats performing

poorly. in other words, chalk it up to incompetence. in an odd way where you can root out scandal and corruption, much harder to get your arms around the problem of government being too big to run or replace all the folks that are just not managing it very well. it all is probably the legitimate explanation in this case. but it only plays into a message that republicans have been only too eager to pounce on. >> governor romney and i, we had to campaign against big government in theory. now, we are seeing big government in practice. now we are seeing the arrogance, we are seeing the croneyism. >> big government was promised to deal with these issues and solve our problems. i do think that's also being brought into question. >> what we're talking about here is an attitude that the government knows best. the state is here to tell us all what to do and if we start criticizing, you get targeted. >> white house argues that it would have been inappropriate to interfere or even give the appearance of trying to exert

influence. and, so, it would have been a terrible idea as many white house counsel said for cathy rumbler to inform the president irs report. the idea that the president was out of the loop could just play into a larger narrative. pfeiffer didn't particularly help with his explanation as over the weekend when it came to the benghazi response. >> look, the president was kept up to date on this as it was happening throughout the entire night from the moment it started until the very end. look, this is critically, this is a horrible tragedy. these are people he sent abroad whose lives are in risk. people who work for him. >> criticism is growing of obama's veteran affair secretary aaront that's growing, not getting smaller. one conservative leaning nonprofit group is running a web video calling for his resignation. on saturday, the white house leaked the quote to "new york

times" making it clear the chief of staff dennis mcdonough told those in the west wing he expects them to spend no more than 10% of their time on the controversies. we have to stay focused, even if it's not going to break through. in the short run, we have to keep hammering on. how is the recent performance of government supposed to reassure the public? when it comes to immigration reform, dealing with a lot more visa applications, perhaps or the implication of health care. something the irs has a small role to play but a role to play on the implementation front and americans are all too eager to link the implication of health care. >> the irs has a role to play in t the -- >> over our health care in the impluication of health care. >> implementing obama care. >> now there's rumors who wrote

the policy is the person running obama care. >> it's very possible that republicans overplay their hand, try to so hard to make this a scandal that they turn the public off. but a new cnn poll shows the president's approval has remained steady in the wake of these so-called controversies at 53%. and no more than 7 of 10 americans call the irs actions unacceptable. they believe the agency acted on its own. 30% think it acted under the order of white house officials and that just about matches core conservative number in most polling. there is, of course, plenty of examples where you can argue that government has worked. think of the rebuilding after hurricane sandy or the response of the boston bombings. it's never a good story when a white house has to respond to examples when the government isn't working very well for the american people. competency in government. remember, this is what undid bush in the second term more than anything else. the idea that he couldn't just do some of the basics. this is the bigger problem for the white house to deal with now. finally, a big, shocking

development over the weekend in the virginia governor's race. virginia republicans held their state party convention on saturday and appeared to be conducting an intriguing experiment in a state that elected democrats to the u.s. senate seats the last three times that senate elections have been held. can the gop win in 2013 with a ticket of candidates who are best known for being very conservative and very outspoken on social issues. did his best to play to an a audience that was wider than the 14,000 conservative delegates who packed the richmond coliseum. >> when did it become extreme to protect children from predators and human traffickers? when did it become extreme to guard our constitution from overreach? when did it become extreme to ask government to spend a little less so our economy can grow?

my friends, it is not extreme to fight for the people of virginia and as your next governor, that is exactly what i'm going to do. >> but, meet the unintended effect of republican maneuvering to hold a convention to ensure he would win the nod for new governor. his name is e.w. jackson. an african-american minister with a history of very conservative statements and now his running mate. after an upset win on the fourth ballot of the day for the lieutenant governor spot. jackson joked to "washington post" this weekend, "we've already been told the knives are coming out at us. i might even be more extreme than ken." he, himself, said that. he may have said it facetiously, but it's true. nominate a guy that makes, might make todd aiken look like a moderate with a history of statements that look like this. >> planned parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives and the democrat party and their

black civil rights allies are partners in this genocide. >> jackson also has a history of anti-gay statements that could alienite suburban women right here in northern virginia for one. >> i know that people say, well, it's unfair to associate homosexuality with pedophilia or some of these other proversions, but i believe that there is a direct connection because what they really want is absolute, complete and total sexual freedom. >> this morning, he is up with a new ad which features the widow and daughter of a police officer killed in the line of duty endorsing him. >> every time i was in the hospital, i would see ken. i will never forget that. >> he really cared about us and that meant a lot to me. >> he's a very genuine guy who has a deep commitment to helping other people. i think ken would make a great governor. >> by the way, for what it's

worth, the nomination as tern general four years ago was seen by some republicans that at the time a potential opportunity for democrats. turned out the top of the ticket could shield itself at the time. mr. of course, more of a running mate feel to it and it will be more difficult for cuccinelli to shield himself from jackson. terry mcauliffe's campaign and the potential democratic ticket holding a primary, they were licking their chops over the weekend over what virginia republicans did at their convention. up next, some blunt talk with the republican senator from missouri on the trio of troubles plaguing washington right now, plus why is he giving the red light to the president's pick for a green job. plus l.a. story record-high spending and record-low turnout. welcome to the politics of 2013. that is what is expected as two governments vie from the mayor of l.a. taking a deep dive to the runoff rivalry that comes to

a head tomorrow. today's politics planner. i guess the most intriguing thing for some might be sean penn testifying on the house side of the hill. so, there you go. too bad there's no congressman named congressman hond. [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day. there was this and this. she got a parking ticket... ♪ and she forgot to pay her credit card bill on time. good thing she's got the citi simplicity card. it doesn't charge late fees or a penalty rate. ever. as in never ever. now about that parking ticket. [ grunting ] [ male announcer ] the citi simplicity card is the only card that never has late fees, a penalty rate, or an annual fee, ever. go to citi.com/simplicity to apply.

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>> there is no question that republicans are trying to make, we have to know what the facts are. everyone needs to take a deep breath and try to solve the problems. well, instead of just playing defense, dan pfeiffer

tried to go on offense against the administration's republican critics sunday accusing them of trying to use recent controversies as political weapons. joining me now roy blunt, member of the arm aed services committee. good morning, sir. >> good morning, how are you, chuck? >> i'm okay. a lot of, sort of on the side writing when it comes to how republicans on capitol hill have responded to some of these controversies. with the advice saying republicans ought to let the facts drive the conversation and not try to to come up with their own conclusion before all the facts are known. you think that's a fair cruteak of what some republicans are doing on capitol hill? >> i think letting the facts drive the discussion is the right thing to do. little bit hard to do that when you're outraged and there's a reason to be outraged about what happened at the irs. there are reasons to continue to be concerned about the statements that are being made about benghazi and what happened

there. i think, particularly, the irs is a thing that people are going to respond to, but, frankly, i don't think there is any reason to rush through this or reach conclusions that later don't turn out to be based on fact. i think there's plenty out there that needs to be talked about and there's no reason not to take the time necessary to let that develop in the way it should develop. the congressional investigation is the right thing. if i was the president, i'd be trying to get ahead of this with some investigation that he generates himself, whether that's a special counsel or not. i don't know. but there is no reason to jump to conclusions here. plenty of facts that i'm confident are still going to come out. >> you know, you brought up the special counsel. if there is a criminal investigation that the justice department announced last week that they want to open on this. do you wait for that to conclude before you start talking about a special council and explain what

you think a special counsel could do that they could not. >> i'm not sure we're not better off having all the focus on congressional oversight. if i was the president, i believe i would be of the mind that let's divert this in some way from the congress. democrats and republicans who are not going to be defending this behavior, particularly at the irs. let's divert this in some way. but what the congress can do, the republican house, i would hope the democrat-led senate both will say, let's get to the bottom of this and let's see where it leads. >> and do you feel like, do you have confidence that on the democratic side that, for instance, max baucus announced he wants to do hearings. are you confident that there is going to be an investigation on the senate side, as well? >> let's see. it certainly sounds at least like at the starting line everyone wants to get on the right side of this debate, which is what the irs did was

unacceptable and let's find out more about it. it's highly unlikely, chuck, that a couple people in cincinna cincinnati, ohio, decided this is going to be the policy of the federal government and maybe even more unlikely that when the irs commissioner knew this a year ago that somehow nobody else knew higher than him in the government. if that's the truth, he should have been fired just for that reason alone. >> you've been around washington a long time. you know the way the agencies can suddenly lock down. and suddenly decide they're going to protect their own entity here because they're fearing any outside influence. >> well, you know, been in washington a long time and the other thing that happens in washington is that what you do when you find out information can get you in a lot more trouble than the information you found out. so, hard to believe that after 25 years at the irs he decided, you know, i'm just going to keep this to myself. equally hard to believe that last month when the white house

counsel found out about this, she decided i'm not going to tell the chief of staff. come on, that may have happened, that happened she should be out of that job by the end of this week, i would think. let's, let's see what the logical thing here is that people really should have done and then why they didn't do it if they didn't do it. plenty to find out here and i i've got a feeling that the congress is going to find out what it needs to be known by the american people. the irs is a scary agency anyway. -- >> everybody fears it. >> when they become the central focus of something like this, everybody's attention when people pay their taxes, everybody's attention is on the side of this. the irs can do anything they want to do if they're not supersed and how dangerous they can be to people and people's lives and livelihood.

>> let me ask you about a hold you have put on the president's nominee to be the administration and epa, environmental public administration. why do you have heeld on her. this is somebody that has worked for republicans and democrats on different, on different levels of government overseeing environmental regulations. >> you know, i think this is another good example of an administration that is giving evidence that they can't manage the government. this hold is not about building anything, it's not about spending any money. there is a long-term project that's been out there a long time in southeast, missouri, and a big flood way and the administration told senator mccaskill and i about three months ago that we will all agree on the facts. this is a to try to get an environmental study out there, a draft study that people could respond to. three months ago, voluntarily, they set the deadline that, by

the way, it has been a long time. they said by march 15th the government will all agree on the facts. this isn't agreeing on the conclusion, it's about agreeing on the facts. they missed that deadline. that was the day i said, okay, i'm going to put a hold on the one person that i can put a hold on. >> but don't you end up stopping and gumming up the works at epa? couldn't epa run better if it had a confirmed administrator? >> it is hard to imagine that the epa could run any worse than it's been running. all they have to do is agree to the facts. chuck, one of the famous quotes that i liked over the years. you're entitled to your own opinion, but not entitled to your own facts. the fish and wildlife people and the usda and the epa just won't agree on the fundamental facts involved and they're going to do that before i release this hold. to ask the government to stop fighting with the government, clearly we don't want the government to fight with

ordinary citizens, but this is a case where the government is fighting with the government and they're going to have to stop this. this is not an unreasonable request. i'm shocked that a month late they didn't do what they said they were going to do by march 15th. >> roy blunt the republican senator from the state of missouri. thanks for coming on this morning. >> you bet. up next, the obama administration's unprecedented effort at plugging leaks. nbc news has learned the associated press reporters are not the only journalists that have had their phones tracked. we're going to have more on that after the break. first, today's trivia question. who is the longest serving chair of the house ways and means committee? first person to tweet the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown. pettis is ceo of makerbalk. they created a 3d printer and

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any other administration before. saying the safety of americans is at risk because of the leak of highly sensitive information, but critics say it's intended to send a message. nbc michael isikoff has the latest. >> anyone who claims is -- >> reporter: one of the top experts on north korea. he is now facing trial and 15 years in prison for allegedly leaking classified information to a fox news reporter, a charge kim adamantly denies. >> they are trying to send a message to government employees, if you leak, we will get you. >> reporter: the obama admintration is cracking down hard on suspected leakers, bringing a half dozen criminal prosecuti prosecutions, more than any previous president. >> leaks related to national security can put people at risk. >> reporter: and it's going after the media to find them.

the justice department confirms its secretly subpoenaed two months of phone records from the offices of the associated press to track down who leaked the story about a foiled bomb threat in yemen. the scope of the subpoena kicked up a storm of controversy. >> i don't know who did it or why it was done, but it's inexcusable. and there's no way to justify this. >> they were the hartford bureau, the new york bureau, the washington bureau, the bureau in the house of representatives. >> reporter: those ap reporters are not alone. these report records obtained show in their efforts to convict stephen kim, they obtained cell phone records of fox news journalists, as well as one reporter's private e-mails. targeting a former cia officer of leaking obtained the bank and credit card records of a reporter. they're even threatening to put risen in jail if he doesn't testify. >> more leaks of classified information than there have been

in the past and something needs to be done to crack down on it. >> chuck, this isn't over yet. sources familiar with the matter say that prosecutors may be closing in on yet another alleged leaker who provided classified information about the computer virus to disrupt the iranian nuclear program. that is one to watch. >> i want to play a clip from associated press from over the weekend. here is probably the most chilling effect that all of these stories have on us on trying to get reports out there. here's what he said. >> i think that it will hurt journalism. in fact, we're already seeing some impact. already officials that would normally talk to us and people we talked to in the normal course of news gathering are already saying to us that they are a little reluctant to talk to us. they fear they will be monitored by the government. >> monitoring situation is a huge issue because phones, the law is written, you and i were

just discussing, they only have to tell us when they have our phone records. >> routinely, without any notice to the news media at all, they're getting e-mails, they're getting text messages and all sorts of ways that they have of getting information electronic trail in the jim risen case, bank records, credit card records and credit card reports of the journalists that he got an illegal leak from a cia officer. so, we're just seeing in many respects the tip of the iceberg of the way these investigations are being conducted and totality of it is a very chilling. >> i guess that's what's going to be the next thing we're all going to get given. michael isikoff on this story. important story. not just for journalists, but the public needs to understand why this is important. thank you, sir. up next, just a few hours

left before voters go to the polls. our deep dive into l.a.'s potentially historymaking race. plus, head of the class. the president gets personal as he and the first lady seek to inspire and challenge college graduates over the weekend. not the only ones with advice this weekend, apparently. >> nothing compared to keeping a bunch of 20 somethings attention long enough before they turn me into a snarky hash tag. so, this is your challenge. help us lead us out of this mess. building growth in america that will be a shining city on the hill, again. be willing to tackle big problems instead of using politics to avoid them. if you're a democrat, hug a republican. look, we're changing fast. simply trying to survive and let someone else deal with these problems and these issues won't work. your job is to embrace the struggle. [ female announcer ] now you can apply sunblock

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today's deep dive. a look at the mayor's race in the country's second largest city. tuesday's mayoral runoff in los angeles pits two popular democrats against each other. eric garcetti and controller wendy greuel. the candidates have been for two years. appearing on "daily rundown" in separate interviews. >> i'm not running on anybody's weaknesses. i'm running on my strengths. those who know los angeles geography, i represent the heart of the city. areas like hollywood and the surrounding areas that ten years ago were down on their luck and drug dealers, prostitution and we have turned them around dramatically. >> i have a variety of background and experience. i have been in both the public sector and the private sector. i've been the independent fiscal watchdog. i've worked in dreamworks studios and i worked in my

family business. i've been able to get jobs into los angeles and focus in on the issues that are important to the residents of los angeles. >> making appearances and hitting the airwaves with a number of high-profile endorsers, including former president bill clinton and magic johnson. wendy greuel has never jumped ahead of garcetti who held the lead out of the primary. latest polls show garcetti maintaining the lead. to make matters worse, greuel's campaign is essentially out of cash. but has an influx from outside groups that have backed their bids for greuel supporters spent $8 million compared to 2.7 on behalf of garcetti. both candidates have the backing of major unions. 5.6 million has been spent on greuel's behalf compared to 1 million for garcetti. the race has gotten nastier. accusations that greuel supported a measure that cracked

down on undocumented immigrants and ads like this one claiming that she is running her campaign at a taxpayers' expense. >> wendy greuel touts her record as city controller. >> as city controller i serve as the public's watchdog. watchdog. watchdog. >> greuel turned her office over to political operatives. >> they're hitting back with attack ad as of their own. >> before attacking wendy greuel, look in the mirror. eric garcetti the only candidate for mayor who voted twice to raise salaries higher than all city and utility employees and raised rates to pay for it. >> so, where do things stand in the final 48 hours for the race that will elect either l.a.'s first women mayor or the city's first jewish mayor? joining me now from "los angeles times" jim who has been covering the race since the start.

jim, thanks for getting up a little bit early. you're one of my favorite people to follow on twitter of late, especially looking at this race. if wendy greuel wins tomorrow, how will she have pulled the upset? >> well, it's kind of interesting because she really started out as the frontrunner, but with all the independent money and all the special expenditure money that she has with all the endorsements that she has like from president clinton and from barbara boxer, the u.s. senator. she really was sort of the candidate to beat and it's been kind of an upset that she's in this come from behind role. i think the major thing that happened you have the department of water and power here and the city-owned utility that has poured a ton of money into her race and people don't like their city utility where it gets quite hot in the summer and people pay high water and air conditioning bills. she has been tied to the dwp and hurt her here in her home base in the valley. >> so, we basically have three

potential swing voting groups. african-americans, hispanics and republicans. the assumption was who was going to have the inside track and all three of these groups since there is no candidate in this race that is trying to directly appeal that is of direct appeal to any of those three potential swing voting groups. tell me about each of them. >> right. right. okay, so, well, first of all, kind of interesting because eric g garcetti sir name would tell you he's italian. but the grandparents on his father's side came from mexico. he had had a lock on the latino vote. he's winning quite handily there by double digits. he also, somewhat surprisingly is winning the white vote. out here in the valley which is very mixed now, but it has a very solid white voting bloc and greuel was supposed to do well among these people, especially among republicans. she once was a republican. she managed to convert in her

years working for tom bradley and working for bill clinton in the bill clinton administration. so, she was supposed to do quite well, but, again, this link to the city utility is just a nonstarter for a lot of republicans. so, here's eric garcett whii wh as liberal as they come and he's getting both the republican vote, the white vote and also the latino vote. so, what we saw in the last couple days was both candidates really going hard after affa rucr african-american voters and they are really become key because greuel, that's the one group she's winning with and really trying to build the vote total from that community in hopes of pulling this thing out. >> and the story of the primary itself was the abysmal turnout. any reason to believe that turnout is going to be any better or is this just sort of the story of l.a. where you're getting your reputation of the town that doesn't get to dodger

games until the third inning and leaves in the seventh? >> right. right. well, people are getting to this election maybe in the fifth inning and i think they left, i don't know, left their wallet in the car and had to go back out. it's just no one is paying attention. it's very disconcerting. the lowest turnout, ever, was actually four years ago, that was antonio villaraigosa running against a bunch of unknowns. a chance we'll have fewer people voting for the winner than voting for any mayor going back to a 1938 candidate who was a reform candidate. just a town where people don't have to know the mayor and any other big city that i know of, new york, philly, you've kind of got to know the mayor or you'd suffer some stigma if you went out in public and not know. here you could not even know you live in l.a. because the geography is so complicated and people really don't care if they're not paying attention. >> so much money is being spent

and so few voters. seems like that is an after action report we all ought to dig in. jim rainey people ought to follow you on twitter if they want to know the latest. thank you, sir. >> all right, thank you. we have some can't miss features on our website every day. today, it happens to be the top five mayoral races you should be watching if you are a real political junky and you really want to understand american politics because today's mayors are tomorrow's guber nutnatoria candidates and tomorrow's candidates are the future presidential candidates. don't forget to head over to our facebook page. the conversation continues there. sometimes very lively, sometimes not too. the speeches by the president and first lady. first, today's white house soup of the day, we think it's a new one. tort

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daily flashback this day in 1927. charles lindbergh took off in the spirit of st. louis on the first solo nonstop flight. 33 1/2 hours landing successfully in paris the following afternoon. and the trivia, we asked, who was the longest serving chairman of the house ways and means committee? wilbur mills. a democrat from arkansas for almost 17 years in the late '50s to the mid-'70s. congratulations to today's winner, dean allison. we'll be back with the full gaggle. lets get the ball rolling. in communities like chicago we're coming together with the city and military veterans for the coca cola foundation's troops for fitness. an innovative program that's inspiring hundreds of people.

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the obamas have been delivering commencements all weekend long. the president addressed morehouse in atlanta. >> sometimes i wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. i had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. but one. things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there's no longer any room for excuses. >> let's bring in the the monday gaggle, nathan gonzalez, dan balt, the chief political correspondent for "the washington post." actually, you're just the chief correspondent, flight. >> whatever. >> dan, the president using his bully pulpit to predominantly talk to african-american males. he's done this before on father's day, this time using a commencement.

i think somebody said he's gone all bill cosby. this has been sort of a constant theme, a conversation he's wanted to have with the i don't think black male. >> yes. and he has been consistent about it, he's done it throughout. once he got a national platform, he used that platform consistently to deliver this kind of specific message to young black men and it's a powerful message and he's obviously got the ability to deliver it in a way in a nobody else -- >> and michelle obama did it over the weekend on friday, speaking to an historically black college as well, also some tough talk. and it was well received. >> when ne go othey go out and e types of things, it does get a lot of attention -- >> it doesn't get a lot of attention anymore. it did at first but we're not giving it -- >> i felt like yesterday there were a couple of story lines coming out of sunday. the story line was the president

speaking at this college in a pretty blunt address. it doesn't hurt to have these things happen. >> there is the other story line that carrie is referring to is the white house is saying there's no scandal here, there's no scandal here. let's say they're right, no scandal. is it that much better? >> there could be some internal damage done for the long term obama presidency in that usually democratic scandals are each separate and they're isolated. now they're connected together. so if anything else happens, separate even from these three, people are going to say here we go again. it's another example where government isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. >> it seems the white house decision is they want distance from everything, treasury will fix the irs, we'll figure out something at the v.a. what strikes me, dan, is the one time they had a problem on their hand, they could have punted it, the bp oil spill, they could have punted it to an agency and they took it over.

should the president gets more hands on in fixing the irs? >> probably. >> but they won't by the way. >> they won't. and it clearly tricky because it is a quasi independent agency. once you have this out there, it seems the more active the president is, the better it is for the irs, the better it is for the white house and the better it is for the country. this needs to get fixed. the question is will people believe he has the credibility. he said he didn't know anything about it until lois lerner made the odd comment about it. the white house is going to face more scrutiny about who knew what when. >> jay carney last week that this was not news, and that she didn't tell the chief of staff or maybe she did and they chose to keep the president out of the loop. on one hand you understand the logic there but it creates this idea an absentee leader. >> and i think that's going to

be a focus of hearings that are going to commence on capitol hill, have already and will continue certainly through this week. it will be a question of what did the president know, when did he know it and why didn't he know it either? >> it's like the oscars, they're playing the music. so go. >> ten minutes ago on politico report.com, the path to the senate majority may be easier than you think. >> we'll take a look. carrie. >> immigration hearings, markups this week. it's been completely overshadowed. go and check it out this week. lots of good stuff. >> i want to give a shout out to my friend kevin ambrose who given an award for a decade of volunteerism at some are set school with students and teachers there. he's a great guy and has done great work there. >> tomorrow it will be tuesday and we'll bring you the one and

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good morning, i'm chris jansing. congress gearing up for another big week of hearings on the irs scandal. tuesday it is the senate finance committee, wednesday the house committee on oversight and government reform. this morning we're learning more about the timing. senior administration officials tell nbc news that the white house's chief lawyer learned about the audit weeks ago. white house senior adviser dan pfeiffer trying to clear the air doing five sunday talk shows. he said the administration will deal with the irs issue but republicans are going too far. >> we've seen this play book from the republicans before. what they want to do when they're lacking a positive agenda is drag washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped up hearings. we're not going to let that happen. >> the